Outer Space Employment Agency

Description:L
L
0
0
During his lengthy recording career, Sun Ra employed many styles, from swing to doo-wop to free jazz to Disney show tunes. No single album can express the breadth of his intergalactic musical vision, but this recording culled from his 16-piece Intergalactic Arkestra's performance at the 1973 Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz FestivaL
L

0
0

During his lengthy recording career, Sun Ra employed many styles, from swing to doo-wop to free jazz to Disney show tunes. No single album can express the breadth of his intergalactic musical vision, but this recording culled from his 16-piece Intergalactic Arkestra's performance at the 1973 Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival vividly conveys the exuberance of his band in full cry. The first track, "Discipline 99," blasts off with a blizzard of metal-flaking electronics and wooly, honking reeds; it sounds chaotic, but the perfectly timed leaps between passages for the whole group, emphatic solo statements, and an exhilarating unison between saxophone and synthesizer betray the iron command that Ra exercised over his ensemble. The Arkestra go on to shine brightly on Ellingtonian waltzes, extended multipercussion workouts, and a lengthy vocal segment in which Ra and his crew bestow jewels of space wisdom upon the enthusiastic crowd with gospel fervor. --Bill Meyer